Tag Archives: science fiction

Book Review of Grid Traveler Trilogy, by J. Carrell Jones

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Grid Traveler TrilogyAuthor, J. Carrell Jones sent me a paperback copy of his novel, Grid Traveler Trilogy. I’ve had it for months, but I’ve put off reading it because it doesn’t have any other reviews. I don’t like to be first, in case I don’t like a book and there aren’t any other reviews to balance things out. But I’m so conscious of the fact that it costs authors money to post paper copies that I’m starting to feel guilty now. So, I finally gave in and read it.

Description from Goodreads:
Long ago we were visited by aliens. They shared knowledge and told us stories of life. They showed us magick and made us believe. Then one day they left. We wondered what happened to them. We searched the skies . . . Through the years we performed “magick” hoping they would return. Epochs passed and we went searching for them to discover proof the Elders and Ancient Ones existed. Toward the end of the last war a hero fell from grace. This is the story of Sean Blakemore and his path to redemption. This is where our journey beings. Grid Traveler Trilogy contains the first three Grid Traveler eBooks: Distant Reality, Alien Shores, and Lines Crossed.

Review:
This single book contains three ‘acts’ or episodes (Distant Reality, Alien Shores, Lines Crossed). Before I get into the real review let me address the episodic nature of the book. The whole thing is very Star Trek-like—lots of orders to the helm and such—but also, despite being interconnected, each act reads and feels like watching a single, 52 minute episode of one of the television shows. It has a basic beginning, brief middle, quick wrap up and an end. Everything happens quickly. Considering the writer is wearing a Star-Trek (I believe) the New Generation costume in his author bio picture, I can’t imagine these similarities are accidental. I’ll stop short of calling it fan-fiction, but the Johnson does often feel very much like the Enterprise.

For the most part the writing was pretty good. The POVs did frequently shift very abruptly and on occasion it fell into the habit of using names and titles too often. You know what I mean, when every time a person is addressed the sentence starts with the persons name. No one does this in real life and it stands out in written form.

There were also times when it felt naively good-natured and, therefore, unrealistic. When the two tendencies coincided it shattered the readers’ ability to submerge themselves in the story—such as when Sean decided to forgive everyone in Act One, or in Act Two, when Dr. Logger stated, “Sean has told me that his Command staff must not be excluded from any information, members or not. If I hadn’t witnessed how this ship operates under extreme conditions I would have objected to a request like that. But after witnessing first hand, I have no objection to telling you any and everything.” Yea, she’s just gonna give up hundreds of years of secrecy just like that? However, this was the exception rather than the norm. It also happens to be a pet peeve of mine, so I couldn’t not mention it.

On the whole, I thought women tended to come off poorly, as manipulative, prone to freeze under pressure, or just go power mad (occasionally all three). I mention it not only because I found it unfortunate, but also because I think it will affect who the book appeals to. You see, I think the Star-Trek comparison might bring in the male crowd (as would the cover and book description), but the amount of romance/sex will probably appeal to the female crowd. Unfortunately, both will also possibly be put off by the other.

My point is that the sex seemed out of place, in two ways. In the beginning, the romance was very fast. It was too fast to be realistic. Think PNR insta-love. Then later on, by Act Three, Sean had developed a harem, a fickle libido and the sex was gratuitous and disruptive to the plot. Go ahead, imagine Star Trek and then throw in a couple orgy and/or lesbian sex scenes. It kind of looses some of it’s integrity, don’t you think?

It completely didn’t fit the genre and it is therefore unclear who the intended reader is. Is the book intended for romance and erotic readers, who would be predominantly female, or hard science fiction fans, who would be mainly male? Of course there is flex in either direction. Generalities are always dangerous, but you probably get my point. The question is especially important given that there is no indication that this is a romantic or erotic novel in the description.

Despite it’s muddied genre classification, I did enjoy many aspects of the story. A lot of the characters were a lot of fun. Sean was wonderfully loyal and steadfast to his crew and I REALLY enjoyed some of the crew’s quirks. I was especially fond of the constant running pools and the importance of food. Cookie was arguably the most important person on board. The mixing of Wicca and Science was an interesting plot device and, despite leaving enough of an opening for future books, I wasn’t left with a precipitous cliffhanger. Not a bad read. 

The Trilisk Ruins

Book Review of The Trilisk Ruins, by Michael McCloskey

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The Trilisk RuinsI grabbed The Trilisk Ruins (Parker Interstellar Travels #1), by Michael McCloskey, from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Telisa Relachik studied to be a xenoarchaeologist in a future where humans have found alien artifacts but haven’t ever encountered live aliens. Of all the aliens whose extinct civilizations are investigated, the Trilisks are the most advanced and the most mysterious.

Telisa refuses to join the government because of her opposition to its hard-handed policies restricting civilian investigation and trade of alien artifacts, despite the fact that her estranged father is a captain in the United Nations Space Force.

When a group of artifact smugglers recruits her, she can’t pass up the chance at getting her hands on objects that could advance her life’s work. But she soon learns her expectations of excitement and riches come with serious drawbacks as she ends up fighting for her life on a mysterious alien planet.

Review:
Hrmm, it was OK, I suppose. Not gripping, in fact I thought the whole thing fell a little flat, but I also wouldn’t call it a disaster or drivel. It was just uninspiring. The main characters did a lot of running around, surmising their situation to each other, and remember things, but very little of significance actually happened. Not nothing, mind you, but not as much as you would expect for 300+ pages, most of which was useless description of stuff. The romance/sex was abrupt, pointless and out of place, the writing/dialogue were stiff and sophomoric, and the characters baseless.

What rescued the book for me was Kirizzo. He was about as far from human as an alien can get, very centipede like. But I found that I related to him more than any other character in the book. This was largely because he was far more fleshed out than any of the others, but also because he wasn’t bogged down with useless details and his unbiased assessment of humans intriguing.

The story seems to be an interesting beginning to something. It’s definitely not a stand alone book. The problem is that, having finished it, I don’t what the primary plot arch is or will be. Is it an action adventure, following two romantically involved artefact smugglers—Indiana Jones in space? Is it a space opera about an errant daughter on the run from her politically and militaristically connected father and his morally debased government affiliation? Is it a sci-fi about exotic alien species being encountered for the first time? I have no idea and at this point, I should.

Again, it’s not a bad book. It has an interesting premise. The writing, though stiff, seemed well edited. I don’t remember any noticeable typos. The whole thing just left me, personally, a little cold. But there are undoubtedly readers out there who will feel differently.

Perfection Unleashed

Book Review of Perfection Unleashed, by Jade Kerrion

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Perfection UnleashedAuthor, Jade Kerrion sent me an ecopy of her Sci-fi novel Perfection Unleashed.

Description from Goodreads:
Two men, one face. One man seeks to embrace destiny, the other to escape it. 

Danyael Sabre spent sixteen years clawing out of the ruins of his childhood and finally has everything he wanted–a career, a home, and a trusted friend. To hold on to them, he keeps his head down and plays by the rules. An alpha empath, he is powerful in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, yet his experience has taught him to avoid attention.

When the perfect human being, Galahad, escapes from Pioneer Laboratories, the illusory peace between humans and their derivatives–the in vitros, clones, and mutants–collapses into social upheaval. The abominations, deformed and distorted mirrors of humanity, created unintentionally in Pioneer Lab’s search for perfection, descend upon Washington D.C. The first era of the Genetic Revolution was peaceful. The second is headed for open war.

Although the genetic future of the human race pivots on Galahad, Danyael does not feel compelled to get involved and risk his cover of anonymity, until he finds out that the perfect human being looks just like him.

Review:
I have to admit that there was more to this book than I expected. Not only was there an interesting science fiction plot, there were also some interesting social questions raised about the morality of genetic modifications, as well as a mild romantic subplot and plenty of action. I’d argue too much adventure, it’s a subjective thing, I know.

While on one hand nonstop action is a good thing, it’s never boring, but it also means that the reader is never given a moment to breathe. The main character, Danyael, is hit with one thing after another until he is so exhausted he’s about ready to pass out. This is actually how he feels from the first page to the last. I mean, three completely unrelated baddies came after him one after another (more if you count the attacks on the group he was with as opposed to him specifically)!

This constant fragile, borderline helplessness made him feel very child-like, which tended to counter his badass alpha empath status, though it did make him really easy to empathise with. I liked him a lot. I liked his cronies. I loved the strength of friendships represented without being tarnished by unrequited love, or lust, or some past betrayal. Pure, strong friendships can feel hard to come by in fiction sometimes. I really enjoyed finding one here. I also liked the opposing military factions, though I strongly felt X-Men’s influence in the two mutant factions. I just really wish there had been a few less irons in the literary fire.

The repetitive plot additions left me feeling exhausted too. There were just too many invested parties vying for Danyael in some fashion or another. Really, what’s the likelihood they would all come to culmination at the same time? It left the book feeling rushed as it leapt from one crisis to another. Despite this one rather significant complaint, I really enjoyed the story and the characters in it. I have to admit being irked at the cliffhanger ending I’m not a fan of them, but I’d be interested in picking the sequel up at some point.